Pages

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Most of us
are an accident away from becoming homeless. Or an illness away. Or a job
loss away.

Anyone can become homeless.

Only 15% of the homeless are those
individuals we so often think of as “the homeless.” Most are families. Usually
one parent families. The average age is nine.

Remember the
scruffy man on the street corner holding the barely legible cardboard sign: “Will work for food?” Even if you stopped and bought him a meal, you know that’s
not a real long-term solution. Right?

So, what is?

The Solution

More and
more states and cities are finding that by offering the homeless places to
live of their own, not only helps these unfortunate individuals, it also saves
the city and state money—a lot of money.

Huffington
Post recently reported that Camden, N.J. will be providing apartments to the
homeless. Those who have jobs will pay a portion of their rent.

The state of
Utah has been providing permanent housing and case management services to their
homeless population for about ten years.

This program has reduced their homeless
population by 72% and has saved the state a bundle of money.

How is that
possible?

Here’s how:

In Utah, a
homeless person living in shelters and eating at soup kitchens costs taxpayers
$19,200 per year. The cost includes emergency room visits, health care, jail,
and other expenses that are paid by taxpayers.

To provide
that homeless person with a permanent home and case management services costs
the taxpayers $7800 per year—a savings of $11,400 per person per year.

In Florida
they found that a similar program saved the taxpayers about $21,000 per
homeless person per year.

The National
Alliance to End Homelessness states that providing homes for the homeless
should take priority over other services.

Think about it: how much harder would
it be to deal with an addiction problem or getting cleaned up for a job
interview if you’re living on the streets.

Persons who are homeless spend more time in jail which is very
costly to local and state governments. Often, they are in jail for “crimes”
that target the homeless such as loitering, sleeping in public places, and
asking passersby for a handout.

·Seattle—a savings of $2,449 per person per
month when homeless persons with severe alcohol problems and other medical and
mental health issues were placed in residences instead of conventional
shelters.

·Rural Portland, ME—found significant cost
reductions when providing permanent supportive housing as opposed to serving
the people while they remain homeless.

·Los
Angeles—found that placing four chronically homeless people into
permanent supportive housing saved the city more than $80,000 per year.

The Alliance provides
trainings, toolkits, webinars, and guides designed to provide practitioners and
community leaders with skills and strategies to successfully understand and
implement rapid re-housing as part of a larger, system-wide approach to ending
homelessness.

Do we want to pass laws that throw people in jail for sitting on
the sidewalk, or develop programs that can make homeless citizens into productive
citizens and save money at the same time?

Monday, February 16, 2015

Even though we elected a
black man for president in 2008. Did it again in 2012.

And even though Oprah Winfrey
is one of the wealthiest and most respected women in America—

Consider
the following:

Which country incarcerates
the largest number of its racial and ethnic minorities?

___ China

___
Russia

___
Iran

___
United States

No
other country in the world incarcerates so many of its racial or ethnic
minorities as the United States. The US imprisons a larger percentage of its
black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.

The
US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, surpassing Russia,
China, and Iran. In Germany, 93 people are in prison for every 100,000 adults
and children. In the US, the rate is 750 per 100,000.

I
know what you’re thinking…

But Isn’t That Because of
the War on Drugs?

The
drug war does account for most of the increase in our prison population.

But
if you think the War on Drugs began because of crack cocaine…think again.
President Reagan announced the War on Drugs in 1982, before crack cocaine
became an issue in neighborhoods or the media.

Drug
crime was actually decreasing when the War on Drugs began.

Check This Out—

Studies
show that people of all colors use and sell drugs at similar rates. Even though
studies indicate that white youth are involved in drug crime at a higher rate
than youth of color, our jails and prisons are overflowing with black and brown
drug offenders.

So,
what’s going on?

Penal System or Social
Control?

In
1972 fewer than 350,000 people were in prisons and jails nationwide. Today—over
2 million.

One
in three young African American men will serve time in prison if current trends
continue.

In
some cities more than half of all young Black men are in prison or on probation
or parole.

The
primary targets of the American Penal system can be defined largely by race.

Crime
rates in other western countries are about the same as in the US.

While
incarceration rates in other western countries have decreased or remained the
same—

incarceration
rates in the US have mushroomed.

This mass
incarceration is more than just the criminal justice system.

There
is also the larger web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those
who are labeled criminals…even after they leave prison.

Mass
incarceration is the most damaging backlash against the Civil Rights Movement.

Life After Prison

This
system of control permanently blocks a huge percentage of the African American
community from participating in mainstream society.”

Former
inmates are often denied the right to vote, excluded from juries, kept from
jobs and housing, and relegated to a subordinated existence.

These
laws, regulations, and informal rules, all reinforced by social stigma, confine
former inmates to the margins of mainstream society much as second class
citizenship during the Jim Crow era.

What Can You Do?

For
a more in-depth discussion, read THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE
AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS by legal scholar Michelle Alexander. Well-written,
informative, and well documented.